Converge
How to display a button linking to your RSS feed or video podcast so that users can subscribe to it
by Mick Fuzz
Summary
It is helpful to have a small graphic button which links to an RSS feed of different kinds of content. Below are some screenshots from different websites.
This tutorial will show you how to create one of these buttons to incorporate into your webpage. It is assumed that you have created an RSS feed for your video and that you know the URL (web address) of the feed. There is also a way of getting iTunes and/or the Miro video player to subscribe to your podcast just by clicking on it. This is detailed at the end of this tutorial.
Adding a generic Media RSS button
There are some online tools which allow you to enter the address of your Media RSS feed and create a button to go with it.
http://www.toprankblog.com/tools/rss-buttons/ is one.
You need to fill out the form and choose which graphics you want to use. Annoyingly there isn't one saying Podcast or Media RSS.
http://www.converge.org.uk/img/PodCast/rssbuttons2.jpg
When you click "Create Buttons" you are presented with some code to embed in your website or blog.
http://www.converge.org.uk/img/PodCast/rssbuttons1.jpg
You now need to paste this code into your page, or to the side bar of your blog.
Adding a 1-click button for Miro
This part of the tutorial is from [http://www.makeinternettv.org makeinternettv.org].
We suggest you test your feed in the various players before you commit to using a 1-click button. Make sure the feed works and that the experience is good.
When a visitor clicks a 1-click button, Miro opens up with the feed automatically subscribed to and ready to watch (when Miro isn't installed, the button leads to a download page).
Use the [http://subscribe.getmiro.com/ Miro 1-Click Button Maker] to create a button for your site — paste in your RSS feed and then you will get code for a personalized button. Just paste the HTML into your site.
Creating code for an iTunes chicklet
Here is another way of creating an iTunes button. Use the graphic and code below.
Code:
<a href="itpc://feeds.feedburner.com/yourblog" target="_self" title="podcast"> <img border="0" src="picture of button" alt="podcast" /> </a>
Button:
http://www.converge.org.uk/img/PodCast/itunes_chicklet.png
We also need to change the code so that it links to your Media RSS feed. Instead of linking to http://, change that to say iptc:// in front of your feed.
Embedding this code in your web page / blog
If you know how to embed HTML code in your website or blog, that's great! If not, there are so many different blog types that is is difficult to explain how to do it for all of them. You might have to ask a more experienced person (that is, a geek) to help. We're sorry about that, we hope to update this section soon.